Bracelets dangling and making noises when she moves her arm… The dress is loose and flows, and as she walks closure, I like it. I hear Maggie go "Uhnnnh" (Walker 2439). She shows a very selfish characteristic and that trait is repeatedly brought out in the story. For instance, she begins to ask for things in the house like the chair and desk. Another instance is when she asks her mother for the quilts her grandmother had made, her mother said they were for Maggie; Dee's reply was, “Maggie wouldn't appreciate the quilts” and Maggie says, “Dee can have them” (Walker 2441).
Immediately after Emily developed the measles. Her mother was unable to care for her because she had to protect herself the new baby from the disease. Emily didn’t recover from the disease as expected. She became thin and withdrawn, even more than she was before. Upon recommendations, she sent Emily to a convalescent home where she could be better cared for.
Bradstreet’s use of metaphor allows her to relate the complex relationships of being a parent to being an author. When the narrator calls her creation her “ ill-formed offspring of [her] feeble brain” she draws parallels between how parents can feel about their children when frustrated (line 1). The narrator refers to her work as a “ rambling brat” to show how difficult it is to accept something she has created (7). The narrator seems to feel this difficulty not only as an author but also as a mother. As a frustrated parent feels the narrator once again uses the metaphor of a child to describe how an author feels when their work does not turn out how they wanted.
There were three types of characters in this story; Dee was the static character who remained unchanged throughout the story, Mama was the dynamic character who caused a change in others, while Maggie was the dynamic character who changed during the story. The fact that Mama knows the inner thoughts of her daughters makes her a limited omniscient narrator. She begins telling the readers that she and Maggie will wait in their comfortable clean yard for “Her” to come. By using the word her to describe the character before stating her name, Mama makes her larger than life; someone other worldly of a higher status. Mama then goes on to describe how nervous Maggie will be until her sister leaves, “standing hopelessly in corners”, “eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe.” She then goes onto reminisce about a dream she had in which she and her daughter Dee, were reunited on a talk show.
Her use of rhetorical questions aimed at her mother Helga stresses the confusion and lack of closure that many of the Kindertransport children had to cope with for the rest of their lives. Furthermore, the fact that Eva was a part of the Kindertransport leads to her feeling abandoned and isolated from her past life, emotions which cause her to make the decision to change her name to Evelyn. Through this change of name and therefore identity Samuels intends to show the audience that Eva’s coping mechanism is to detach herself entirely from her past life, this becomes clear when she rejects her birth Mother Helga in this scene. This total rejection of Evelyn’s past was created by Diane Samuel’s to mimic the reactions of real Kindertransport children. A crucial part of Samuel’s research for her play was hearing the real
A Woman’s Duality By Maya Asfour Edna’s self reserved character and the propensity to mask her emotions had a lot to do with her mother’s death when she was at a very young age in addition to not being close to either of her sisters, and that all the girls she befriended happened to be of a self contained type. Edna decided to take her place as a married woman with dignity, thus sacrificing her needs to attain the demands of society. But even though she does not attend to her needs they exist inside of her, causing her to question and desire while her body does what others expect her to do. Madame’s Ratignolle compassionate gesture at the beach provokes Edna to realize that she was brought up to be a reserved woman. The gesture also inspires Edna to speak openly and freely and by doing so Edna feels intoxicated as if she tasted “the first breath of freedom” [VII Chopin].
In Hanging Fire the speaker repeats the lines “and momma’s in the bedroom with the door closed”, at the end of each stanza (3, 11-12). The repetitions of these lines drive home the point that the speaker does not have much of a relationship with her mother. The speaker seeks to spend time with her mother and have an actual relationship, but the constant closed door serves as the separation between the two of them. The speaker is going through many emotions and tough times for a girl, and while she should have the guidance of her mother to help her, she is left alone to navigate her way through puberty and life. In On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City the speaker faces some ethical concerns while listening to an elderly passenger recite some historical facts about landmarks on a train.
“The Church of No Reason” In her short story, “The Church of No Reason”, Andrea Barrett illustrates the cascade effects of depression, sorrow and betrayal. Her use of symbolism with characterization in this story is interesting showing how a mother gave up hope on life. Describing how depression Lead her to a book she believed gave her more than just answers, as she said “The point is that there has to be something to life besides working and raising you”. Her depression grew so deep that she shunned her most important responsibly, her family. Andrea uniquely described the mother throughout the story as a person that was loosing so much, so quickly.
In 1899, women were looked at as delicate beings that only needed rest to cure what ailments afflicted them. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the woman was handled and spoken to like a child. She was made to believe that she knew nothing of her own body and feelings. She was influenced by her husband to feel
“when she finally came , I hardly knew her, walking quick and nervous like her father, looking like her father, thin,and dressed in a shoddy red that yellowed her skin and glared at the pockmarkes. (291) The mother was worried about Emily because she was so thin, frail, and sickly. As time went on the mother took advise and sent emily away again, this time to a convelesent home. The mother was advised that Emily would receive the care she needed. Sending a child away would only convince them that they are not wanted.